Smoker Fuel

[Steveuk]

Hi All
Just wondered what smoker fuel people use, so many i have seen on the internet,
appreciate as all ways advice
Thanks

steve

 

[the naked beekeeper]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60&highlight=smoker+fuel

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5858&highlight=smoker+fuel

 

[Silly Bee]

Lavender, Heather,Eucalyptus.

 

[hedgerow pete]

bog standard corigatd card board, free from work.

hessian , also free from work

 

[Silly Bee]

Its for me, not the bees pete.

 

[SixFooter]

I started using dried used tea bags.

 

[Frithgar]

hessian taken from the bottom of old sofas, armchairs and mattresses.
I always stuff it into a bucket of water and leave to soak for 24 hours, then rinse a few times in clean water to get rid of any fire retardent and any other chemicals that may have been sprayed on.

Cut into strips keeping the width of the strips about 2/3 of the height of the smoker. Roll the up and light one end, when it's burning well stuff it in and one roll will last for 60-90 mins, depending how tight you roll them. I usually add bits of old wood as I got if I need it to burn longer, anything I scrounge from the hedge basically.

Frith

 

[Frithgar]

P.S. a guy I know not far from me uses old dried orange peel, he has all his family keep the orange peel and he dries it on the roof of his garage, he says it calms the bees more than normal smoke and he likes the smell. I've personally never noticed a differance and don't like the smell much either, each to their own

 

[johna]

Get some old hessian sacking,let it go rotten then dry it and it makes a good dense cool smoke with very little tar to bung up your smoker.I get my sacking from our local garden centre who get their garden ornaments wrapped in it from their suppliers.I find corrugated cardboard burns rather hot and sometimes comes soaked in a fire retardent-not easy to light.

 

[MODNOD]

Dry rotten wood.

 

[nonstandard]

Old hessian coffee sacks, food safe so hopefully no chemicals, cool burning, they stay lit, long lasting, no tar and they burn down to next to nothing.

Oh and I get then for nowt

 

[fatshark]

Ripped up eggboxes ... the thick cardboard type. Smoulder a little fast, but very reliable and easy to light. Leave a fine dusty residue and little tar. We use a lot of eggs at work and I've got a pile about a metre high of stacked boxes ready for next season

 

[Stiffy]

Pine needles, makes a cool and pleasant smoke.....sound like a cigarette advert!!
Cheers
S

 

[Hombre]

Pine bedding chips from your local pet shop. It seems popular with at least three BIs that I have seen.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Some are using the compressed dried grass nuts,used for horse,cattle and sheep feed,apparently they work very well. I use rotted wood or cardboard,but intend to see how well turf will work at some stage.

 

[lazybee]

Wow! some of you go to a lot of trouble.
I just pick up what's on the ground, rotten twigs,dry grass etc. I sometimes use straw, twisted and rolled into balls.

 

[Finman]

.
You dont know that a thick white smoke is tar which codensates onto beewax and gives a smoke aroma to honey and to hive for long time.

Ida is not suffocate bees but just keep them calm.

The worst are pine needles and cones. Gras has too strong odor.

Rotten leave tree wood is good. It is slow to burn. It does not glue the smoker. All rotten wood are not good. Try which works well and take a store from it. I use specially rotten birch.

Turf and egg box are good too but quick to burn.

If the stuff is too moist I dry it up in microwave oven.

 

[Finman]

.
Tar graven to make tar for wooden ships and for ropes etc = Dry distilling of wood.

The grave is full of pine timber and there is a soil layer on timber.
It is burned with lack of oxygen.
The heat distills the tar from the wood.

 

[tidymeup]

I use the shavings left over after we have been cutting trees with the chainsaw. It burns pretty slow and produces just enough smoke for me.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

.

The worst are pine needles and cones. Gras has too strong odor.

Interesting - I'm now wondering if the sudden aggressive change in behaviour of one of my colonies was related to the time I started using pine cones. Definitely noticed that wrong sort of cardboard can aggravate rather than pacify them.